Doing The Right Thing

Throughout Western history, philosophers from Plato to Descartes to Freud believed that the mind was governed by two spheres: the rational and the emotional. Human’s ability to exercise reason over our primitive instincts gave us dominion over the animal kingdom. Decisions were made with careful reflection or going with the gut.

Now that the black box of the human brain has been opened up, neuroscientists are discovering that our best decisions are a finely-tuned blend of feeling and emotion.

Jonah Lehrer is editor-at-large for Seed Magazine, a favorite Word of Mouth guest, and author of the new book How We Decide, where he looks at new research and a variety of deciders to explain how we make choices, and how we can make better ones. Jonah decided to join us from the Christian Science Monitor studios in Boston.